Survey Finds U.S. Leads World in Substance Abuse

[MTK]

Huge shocker:

The U.S. leads the world in marijuana and cocaine experimentation, as well as in lifetime tobacco use, according to a survey released this week by the World Health Organization.

link: FOXNews.com - Survey Finds U.S. Leads World in Substance Abuse - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News

[dmek25]

is this really a shock? the pressures of today's world are far greater then they have ever been. and drugs are more readily available, and at cheaper prices

[firstdown]

The U.S. had the highest percentage of respondents admitting to lifetime tobacco use at 74 percent, followed by Lebanon at 67 percent, and Mexico and the Ukraine at 60 percent, according to the study.

So they want us to believe that 74 percent (LIFETIME SMOKERS) of Americans smoke thats total BS. What did they do go to the lowest places to find people in the US who would more than likley smoke and do drugs. These types of poles like the health surveys they do where we rank low I think are skewed to make the US look bad.

[MTK]

full survey results: PLoS Medicine - Toward a Global View of Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use: Findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

[That Guy]

74% seems a bit high... surveys have terrible margins of error, since a lot of disinterested people don't bother responding. it's not a really good way to gather accurate data. at least not if those are the results they're getting...

[firstdown]

A bit off try more like 21% of Americans smoke they are not even close. It seems they just like to knock the US in these types of poles or survey's.ACS :: US Smoking Rates Continue to Drop

[MTK]

Originally Posted by firstdown

A bit off try more like 21% of Americans smoke they are not even close. It seems they just like to knock the US in these types of poles or survey's.ACS :: US Smoking Rates Continue to Drop

what makes this info any more correct or accurate than the other?

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

what makes this info any more correct or accurate than the other?

Well, for one thing, a common sense sniff test. Take a look around, do 3 out of 4 people in the United States smoke? The other thing is that is the American Cancer Society quoting those numbers, you can't get much more reputable.

The number is a lot closer to 20%. Been published all over the place.

The other question is what the heck does "lifetime use" mean. I'm thinking it means something like "have you ever tried tobacco at any point during your lifetime?" That's the only way I can see a number of 74%.

It certainly doesn't mean that 74% of people currently smoke, because that's just way way wrong.

[Schneed10]

If the number was 74% of American's smoke, there's no way cities like Philadelphia would ever be able to pass a smoking ban in all public buildings within city limits, as they did last year.

[Schneed10]

Dispute of the tobacco numbers notwithstanding, the point of the article remains, when comparing apples to apples (as this article is doing with "lifetime" rates), the US grades out as the biggest substance abusers.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Well, for one thing, a common sense sniff test. Take a look around, do 3 out of 4 people in the United States smoke? The other thing is that is the American Cancer Society quoting those numbers, you can't get much more reputable.

The number is a lot closer to 20%. Been published all over the place.

The other question is what the heck does "lifetime use" mean. I'm thinking it means something like "have you ever tried tobacco at any point during your lifetime?" That's the only way I can see a number of 74%.

It certainly doesn't mean that 74% of people currently smoke, because that's just way way wrong.

I'm not denying the number sounds high... but what qualifies as a lifetime smoker? I'm thinking it's probably have you ever been a smoker in your lifetime as you said.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Dispute of the tobacco numbers notwithstanding, the point of the article remains, when comparing apples to apples (as this article is doing with "lifetime" rates), the US grades out as the biggest substance abusers.

Or maybe they wanted to make it look like the US is just a bunch of dumb smoking drug ussers.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Or maybe they wanted to make it look like the US is just a bunch of dumb smoking drug ussers.

I think we do that quite easily ourselves.

Nobody said we are dumb though, in fact I think the poll results indicate that more educated societies tend to have bigger problems with drugs.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I'm not denying the number sounds high... but what qualifies as a lifetime smoker? I'm thinking it's probably have you ever been a smoker in your lifetime as you said.

Here's your answer, straight from the study:

Measures

All WMH surveys used the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview, Version 3.0 (Composite International Diagnostic Interview [CIDI] 3.0), a fully structured diagnostic interview for psychiatric conditions [5,6]. Within this assessment, participants were asked if they had ever used (a) alcohol, (b) tobacco (cigarettes, cigars, or pipes), (c) cannabis (marijuana, hashish), and (d) cocaine. Those who had used these drugs were asked about the AOO of use of each drug class, except in New Zealand, Japan, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain, where age of first tobacco smoking was not assessed.

So their stat is a "have you ever" stat, it's not a "do you currently" stat. I'm not sure how meaningful a "have you ever" stat is. A good portion of American respondents would have lived through the 60s and 70s, which as we know, was a period in American culture where we saw a rampant substance abuse spike. Further, just about everyone of adult age in the 1950s smoked.

The Cancer Society's stat would be much more telling to compare across nations, since it's a "do you currently" number. I don't care how many people USED to use drugs, I care how many do today.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Here's your answer, straight from the study:


So their stat is a "have you ever" stat, it's not a "do you currently" stat. I'm not sure how meaningful a "have you ever" stat is. A good portion of American respondents would have lived through the 60s and 70s, which as we know, was a period in American culture where we saw a rampant substance abuse spike. Further, just about everyone of adult age in the 1950s smoked.

The Cancer Society's stat would be much more telling to compare across nations, since it's a "do you currently" number. I don't care how many people USED to use drugs, I care how many do today.

Good catch I was just looking for the same thing.

Yeah I mean it's pretty pointless to know who has used vs. who uses now.